PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Richard Bachmann on Tuesday vowed support for a more successful campaign in Paris next year as the country celebrated a hundred years of Olympics participation.
“That’s for the POC [Philippine Olympic Committee] and the PSC to work on together,” Bachmann told the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the PSC Building’s conference room at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
To do that, Bachmann reiterated his ultimate goal as chairman of the government sports arm.
“We are prioritizing the needs of our national athletes in our first few days at the office,” Bachmann said. ““I’ll wait for the POC to collaborate with the PSC. It’s still a long way to go and we still have a lot of things to do.”
POC president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino is still in France making solid arrangements for a pre-Paris Olympics training venue, a first-of-its-kind endeavor in Philippine sports history.
Filipino athletes who qualify for Paris will be in the French capital two months before the July 26 to August 11 Games to cap their training and acclimatize with the European summer.
Bachmann hinted at taking it one step at a time in terms of caring for the athletes by prioritizing at this time preparations for the May 5 to 17 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
The PSC and the POC, he stressed, are on the same page on athletes’ care and their success in major international competitions.
“President Tolentino and the PSC are both hands-on on the athletes and sports, that’s perfect with me … working together with the POC,” he said.
Bachmann also laid out a four-point plan during his administration at the PSC—a better system for timely release of athletes’ allowances, improvement of facilities, provision of meals for athletes and taking care of the PSC “back-of-house.”
“To serve the athletes well, I need to know them. So I go around and meet these athletes,” he said. “I don’t want to be that chairman who’s stuck in the office.”
He also inspected PSC-managed facilities and paid special attention to equipment regularly used by the national team.
Aside from the athletes, Bachmann also said that it’s important to take care of the PSC “back-of-house,” in reference to the agency’s employees.
“They’re equally important because I won’t be able to serve without their help,” he said.
He also assured that the PSC board will continue to enhance the training conditions of all national teams with the help of the agency’s partners which include the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Pocari Sweat Otsuka Solar Philippines and Pioneer Insurance.
